September '20 Online Book Club Reviews

Golden Son by Pierce Brown, Review by Wei Li

This is the second book in the Red Rising Saga. It's set in a future where democracy is out and everyone lives within a colour based caste system. The reds are the bodies or workers of the group, while the silvers are judge and jury and the gold class rule. There are other colour classes too, such as the obsidians, who are a warrior race. Each person has physical attributes that denote their place in the system. 

This series centres around a young red called Darrow. His status as a red puts him at the bottom of the ladder. His people spend their whole lives underground, labouring in the mines. 

**SPOILERS ahead! Stop reading here if you want to read the first book, Red Rising

The reds have been told that they are toiling in order to save humanity, but it's a lie. Outraged by the injustice, Darrow rebels and is biologically changed to a gold in secret. He's been through a lot, and now in Golden Son he's on his own. His mission? To break the chains and topple the golds. 

 Rated: 5/5 Jackals "It's one of my favourite books -I've read it three times"

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Review by Maria

This is Twilight from Edward's perspective. It's about 800-900 pages long and I'm nearly in the middle. Edward has different senses and Meyer uses lots of descriptive language for all of their first encounters. 

I think it's an obsession really, not a normal relationship. He watches her sleep - that's a bit uncomfortable. Because of his amazing hearing he can also listen in on all her private conversations.

Rated: 3/5 Vampires

August '20 Online Book Club Reviews

Scythe, Thunderhead & Toll by Neal Schusterman, Review by Wei Li

Somewhere in the distant future, time is no longer defined in the same way. Nobody dies of their own accord, so in order to manage population levels, Scythes were created. 

I love how the author writes in this detached way. He manages to jump between character's perspectives, even to bystanders smoothly. 

I like that it tackles heavy themes like death, what a good life is and decisions no human should ever have to make -but they do, because no one else can.  

Rated 5/5 Reapers "It's such a good series, and it's not too violent"

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Review by Maria

The main character is Cinder, she's half cyborg. It starts off by explaining her life situation, she has one bad step sister and one good one who is her friend. One gets infected with the plague- which reminds me of Coronavirus. Most of the story revolves around Cinder meeting the prince. It explores the theme of finding out who you are.

Rated: 4/5 Androids

The Declaration by Gemma Malley, Review by Ciena

I didn't like the characters, I found them very immature. It's set in 2130 and there's a drug that can regenerate cells. This means that people can live forever. The government makes the drug legal, but if you want to have children, you have to opt out of taking it. The main characters are Anna and Peter. They are around 14 years old and are categorised as Surpluses, a servant class made up of the children of people who broke the declaration. 

Rated: 2.5/5 diaries "The plot is interesting, you want to find out what will happen"

The Book of Dust by Phillip Pulman, Review by Wren

I've tried starting this book like three times, and I'm just not that interested. It's about a boy called Malcolm who sees a suspicious man drop an acorn which holds a secret message about dust...

Rated: 3/5 "good plot, but not that interesting"

Trinkets by Kerstin Smith, Review by Eva

I originally saw the Netflix adaptation. It's about these three girls who meet at a shop lifters anonymous meeting and become friends. They get into a lot of trouble and have a lot of fun. They are really good friends but at school they pretend they hardly know each other because they all have different friendship groups.

Rated: 5/5 leather jackets "Lots of twists and turns, I'd recommend it for anyone" 

Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe, Review by Caitlyn

This story is set in 1877 and revolves around three perspectives, including a Chinese brother and sister, who are living on the Australian goldfields.

It's really interesting how the author explores the theme of guilt, but in such different ways for each character. It also explores racism, which was more overt then, but it's not overwhelming or as much as I expected. It's a very character based narrative, but stuff happens too, it's not just internal monologue. It focuses more on characters than plot.

Rated: 4/5 plums "I really liked it, it's well written, the characters have interesting interactions and relationships."